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Pain in Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Definition: Pain

Pain refers to “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage.” It is important therefore to understand that pain is more than a simple “ouch” and refers to the emotional, cognitive, and social aspects associated with potentially noxious physical sensations. Therefore, the current entry will focus on responses to tactile, thermal, and chemical stimuli which have the potential to result in unpleasant sensations. This entry will not consider distressing responses to emotional or other sensory experiences; for a review of these, see the entry “Sensory Processing”.

To understand both the experience of pain, the expression of pain, and the relationship of these to ASD, it is also important to consider the process by which pain is perceived and then communicated. When considering painful events that start in the periphery (e.g., pain resulting from an injury/tissue damage), it is often possible to see the noxious input,...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK

    David Moore

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville, TN, USA

    Michelle D. Failla

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  1. David Moore
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  2. Michelle D. Failla
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Correspondence to David Moore .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Moore, D., Failla, M.D. (2020). Pain in Autism Spectrum Disorders. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102488-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102488-1

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